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Does Nintendo DS Come with Pre-Installed Games? No—But Here's What's Built In

No Nintendo DS model (DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, 2DS, New 3DS) comes with pre-installed games on internal memory.

How Games Work on DS Family

Physical cartridges: All games sold separately as Game Cards (DS/DSi/3DS) inserted into slot.
Digital (DSi/3DS only): DSi Shop / Nintendo eShop — purchased/downloaded to SD Card / NAND. Not pre-installed.
Bundle exceptions: Special edition hardware bundles included a physical game cartridge in the box (e.g., Mario Kart DS bundle, Pokémon Black/White DSi bundles, Animal Crossing 3DS XL). The game was not on the system—it was in the box.

DSi / 3DS Built-in Software (Not Games)

App	Description
PictoChat (DS/DSi)	Local wireless chat/drawing (no internet)
DSi Camera / Sound / Flipnote Studio	Creative tools (DSi/3DS)
Nintendo Zone / StreetPass Mii Plaza (3DS)	Local discovery, Mii exchange, puzzle games
Activity Log / Download Play / System Settings	System utilities
Health & Safety / AR Games / Face Raiders (3DS)	Tech demos / minigames (AR Cards required)

AR Games / Face Raiders are the closest to "pre-installed games" on 3DS—but require physical AR Cards (included in box) and are tech demos, not full games.

Buying a Used DS? What to Expect

System only. No SD card (buy separately).
No games unless seller includes cartridges.
DSi/3DS: Previous owner's NNID may remain. Format System Memory (Settings → Other → Format) before use.

Budget for games separately. The DS library is vast and affordable used.

Nintendo DS